


i love you in the way that creates, not destroys

by nevernevergirl



Category: Charmed (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 20:45:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12350349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevernevergirl/pseuds/nevernevergirl
Summary: Piper and Leo have a talk about Future Consequences™. Spin City episode tag.





	i love you in the way that creates, not destroys

It’s not his bedroom anymore, but he doesn’t think he can be anywhere else right now. She’s not his wife anymore, but he can’t handle being alone, and he sure as hell can’t handle being around other people.

 

He raps his knuckles against the doorway. “Piper?”

 

She looks up from the bag she’s packing, setting Wyatt’s favorite teddy bear down. “Hey. I was just getting some things together to take to Magic School. Did you talk to Chris?”

 

“I tried,” he shakes his head. “He didn’t really want to talk. He orbed out.”

 

Piper frowns; she moves her hand to rest on her stomach. He smiles a little; he’d missed seeing those instincts on her. “Well, do you know where he went? Is he okay?”

 

“He’s at P3, I can sense him,” he sighs. “He just doesn’t want to see me.”

 

Piper shrugs, like she expected to hear that. “He avoided me for weeks after I found out. It’s still _Chris_. It’s hard to get much out of him.”

 

“Somehow, I don’t think this is about future consequences,” he says, wryly.

 

Piper sighs. “Do you want to come in? We should talk.”

 

He hesitates for a moment. Piper narrows her eyes, placing a hand on her hip. He winces, preemptively.

 

“Leo. I was kidnapped by a spider demon, I have crazy hormones, and I want to talk _now_.”

 

“Okay, okay, you’re right,” he sighs, managing a small smile and settling down on the edge of the bed. She sits next to him. It’s more comfortable than it should be to be this close to her after six months away, but he thinks they’ve probably been through too much together to _not_ be instinctively comfortable.

 

“Well,” she says, smiling a little wryly. “I guess I should tell you I’m pregnant.”

 

He laughs, shaking his head. “Yeah, you know, I heard something about that.”

 

“I should have told you,” she says. Her voice is low and sounds guilty; it hurts to hear. “You had a right to know.”

 

“I didn’t give you much of a chance. I mean, it had to have happened when... well,” he sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “Right before I left.”

 

“Are you doing okay with all of this?” she asks, watching him carefully. “It’s a lot to take in.”

 

“It’s weird. I know there have been times where I’ve wanted to throttle him,” he forces a small smile, but it’s not really a joke. He felt all of that, he meant it, and now he’s not sure what to make of it. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. It’s like—”

 

“He’s been put into context, and that changes everything?” Piper shakes his head. “Yeah, I know the feeling. All of that shadiness and secrecy was just—”

 

“The Halliwell martyr complex?”

 

“Hah!” she snorts, elbowing him in the side. “Right. All from my side of the family, _Elder_ Leo.”

 

Leo smiles, then shakes his head. “I’ve said some pretty awful things to him.”

 

“I know. So have I. We were making Wyatt a priority. And we didn’t know about Chris, but that had to hurt,” Piper sighs, reaching out gingerly to touch the bruise fading on his forehead. “You know, I have to give it to him, he can throw a punch.”

 

Leo winces a little, raising his eyebrows. “That’s our little boy,” he murmurs.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

“I’ll be fine. I heal fast, remember? I’m more concerned about Chris right now, anyway.”

 

Piper gives him a sad smile. “What did he say to you?”

 

“I told you, he didn’t want to talk.”

 

Piper rolls her eyes. “He said _something._  I know you, and I think I’m starting to know him. So cut the crap, Leo.”

 

He sighs, staring down at his hands. “I wasn’t there for him, Piper,” he says, quietly. “Our son says I abandoned him, and the kicker is that I’m not actually that surprised.”

 

She frowns. “Leo, come on.”

 

“Well, are you surprised?” he says, sharply, looking up at her. “I’ve been gone for six months. I didn’t know you were _pregnant_.”

 

“Hey, no, we both agreed to that,” she says. “Your Elder duties—”

 

“You hate that I’m an Elder,” he sighs. “You’ve been saying it from the beginning. I’m not around. I never see Wyatt. I’m not here for you guys.”

 

“Hey. That’s not what this is. You haven’t _abandoned_ us.”

 

“But I will,” he says, bluntly. “That’s how this ends, Piper. You think we were breaking the rules before? Elders don’t have families. They don’t have attachments, they have the greater good.”

 

“Screw that,” she snaps. She grabs his hand and places it on her stomach. “ _This_ is your greater good, Leo Wyatt, do you hear me?”

 

“Piper—”

 

“No. No, you’re going to let me finish,” she says, sharply. “You haven’t abandoned Chris. None of that has happened yet. He came back to change the future, right? Let’s change it.”

 

He gives her a sad smile. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t come back to change me.”

 

“Tough. I’m his mother, and I say we’re changing that too.”

 

Leo laughs a little, shaking his head. “You’re incredible, you know that?”

 

“Yes, actually,” she shrugs, flashing him a small smile. “Look. I’m not telling you how to fix it. I don’t know how to fix it. I just know that we will.”

 

He grins a little, raising an eyebrow. “Piper Halliwell. Are you telling me to have faith?”

 

She makes a face. “ _No_. I’m telling you that you’re a good man, and this family is stubborn as hell.”

 

“Close enough,” he says, nudging her a little. “I guess we have two priorities now, hm?”

 

“Yeah,” she smiles, then wrinkles her nose. “Or three? He’s a fetus and a surly 22-year old. How does that work, priority-wise?”

 

“I guess we’ll figure it out,” he says, quietly. She grins back, and it feels like grace. He places his hand back on her stomach and thinks _I’m going to be a father —_ it still feels novel and incredible and impossible.

 

Piper watches him carefully. “It’s hitting you, isn’t it?” she murmurs.

 

He nods, smiling a little as the baby moves around. “You know, I think we named him after my dad. Christopher.”

 

“Yeah? It’s a nice name,” she says, quietly. “We’re going to make this okay, Leo. We don’t have any other choice.”

 

He nods, pulling away from Piper finally and picking up Wyatt’s teddy bear. He turns it in his hands absently; one of its eyes looks a little loose from hours of play with a toddler. He’d have to fix that.

 

He’d have to be around to fix that.

 

“I know,” he says, nodding. “We are. We’re going to fix all of it.”


End file.
